Being an abundant, renewable, and inexpensive polymer, starch has been chemically modified in countless ways for food and industrial purposes. For example, Shih et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,996, issued Sept. 1, 1987, disclose the preparation of a starch copolymer by first reacting starch with allyl glycidyl ether and then with a combination of acrylamide and acrylic acid. The end product of this reaction is a water-in-oil emulsion said to be suitable for use as a thickener. Shih et al. disclose that the polymer can be separated from the reaction mixture by adding a flocculating agent and then filtering of the mixture followed by washing and drying of the flocculated polymer.